DuPage chairman candidates weigh in on water commission
Heads already would have rolled at the DuPage Water Commission if most of the four candidates for county board chairman in the GOP primary were in charge.
The four all said they are troubled by the commission's admission to accidentally spending $19 million of its reserves on operational costs over the past two years, which recently forced the agency to take out a $30 million loan.
A special auditing firm has been hired to perform a "forensic audit" of the commission's books and determine how the accounting mistake was made. The commission's financial administrator resigned after the spending came to light.
The Republican chairman candidates, who met Wednesday with the Daily Herald, are Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso, state Sen. Carole Pankau, state Sen. Dan Cronin and District 4 county board member Debra Olson.
Three of the four candidates said water commission General Manager Bob Martin should be fired, while some said they would demand more accountability from the commissioners appointed by the county board chairman.
"I am waiting to find out what responsibility the board members had in all this," Olson said. "I don't think anyone should be protected. We need to know where the weaknesses are in that structure."
Olson, who heads the county board's public works committee, said hearings will be held in January by her committee to give residents a chance to hear from the water commission about the financial miscues. About 3,200 unincorporated property owners receive water through the commission, Olson said.
Cronin also was critical of the appointed board.
"Not being able to account for $19 million is outrageous and if the forensic audit concludes a breach of duty, I think all should go," he said. "I also think there's a pattern over there that raises some issues."
Both Cronin and Pankau voted in favor of allowing the county to take $75 million of the commission's $115 million reserves about seven years ago when the issue came before the state senate. They favored the move because the commission at the time couldn't justify maintaining reserves that high.
The commission's current reserves are supposed to be around $26 million.
Pankau believes the commission needs to set a limit for reserves and keep an eye on that figure so the county won't take any reserve funds in the future and the accounting mishap won't happen again.
"I'm not saying anybody did anything bad, but what I'm saying is they weren't as diligent as much as they could have been," she said. "When a sports team has a losing season, you fire the coach. And I think Bob Martin has to go."
Grasso suggested judgment be postponed until after results of the review are complete.
"The facts as I know them at this point don't appear that there is any criminal behavior," he said. "It does seem to be an oversight issue, but we don't have all the facts. The board has taken the appropriate steps to bring in outsiders to review the situation."
Republican voters will decide Feb. 2 which of the four will face Democrat Carole Cheney in the Nov. 2 general election.